Friday, December 12, 2014

The Imitation Game

The name Alan
Turing should sound quite familiar to you, especially if
you enjoy your computers, tablets, and smart-phones that you
are using right now. He was a distinguished British
mathematician who was a pioneer in computer science and
artificial intelligence. His significant contribution in
cracking Nazi's encrypted messages helped the British and
its allies to win World War II. After the war, he was
ordered to keep his accomplishment as a top secret. But when
the secret about his sexuality was discovered, he was
bigotedly prosecuted for being gay in 1952 when homosexual
activity was a crime. Alan
Turing's fascinating and extraordinary story is
dramatically unfold in Norwegian director Morten
Tyldum's engrossing new film
"The
Imitation Game" (UK/USA 2014 | 114
min.). During Toronto
International Film Festival few months
ago, The
New York Times amusingly summarized this film as
"The
King's Speech" met "A
Beautiful Mind" on "Brokeback
Mountain." That actually isn't too far from
the truth.
Benedict
Cumberbatch's terrific performance as Alan
Turing likely will add more goodies
in the gift-basket during the upcoming award season.

During World War II in 1939, British forces' fight against
the German looks bleak. Although the British can intercept
German forces' radio transmissions encrypted by a machine
called Enigma,
they cannot decode these messages. When Royal Naval
Commander Alastair Denniston (Charles Dance) recruits a team of experts
to crack German's unbreakable code and to turn the war
around, 27-year-old prodigy Alan
Turing (Benedict
Cumberbatch) joins the ambitious effort.

Although Alan is a genius in mathematics and in solving
puzzles, he is remarkably awkward at social interactions.
While keeping his homosexuality as a deep secret, he finds
comfort by submerging himself in his code-breaking work
inside the heavily guarded mansion in Bletchley
Park. With the support from the Prime
Minister, no less, he assembles a team of sharp minds
including a brilliant Cambridge mathematics graduate Joan
Clarke (Keira
Knightley) and a chess champion Hugh Alexander
(Matthew
Goode).

Firmly believing in machines (later we call computers) to
process logic like a human brain, Alan and his team build
a complex electro-mechanical device bombe
which he names it Christopher after his only childhood
friend in a boarding school. With their passionate work,
persist dedication, and pure luck, they finally crack
German's encryption which changes every 24 hours. Their
work eventually helps the British to win the bloody war.

Clearly, the director Morten Tyldum
is gearing toward to entertain a broader audience when he
tells Alan
Turing's remarkable story in this film. The film is
gripping from the beginning to the end and it's full of
dramatic moments, even some of them are ostentatiously
choreographed and less convincing. However, the superb
performance by the cast and the incredible story keep us
captivated.

It's unfortunate that the film doesn't have any
illustration about Alan
Turing's intelligence in mathematics. All we can see
is that Alan works on a bombe like
a handyman or an electrical engineer instead of a
mathematician. The film shies away from explaining any
mathematical algorithm or encryption theory which is at
the center of the film. That omission raises suspicion
about the filmmakers' diminishing of viewers'
intelligence. For example, Instead of elaborating
how Alan
Turing's mathematical mind cracks the enigma, the film
invents an aha-moment during a bar-talk that inspires a
breakthrough. While it makes an exciting scene for the
movie, it's quite ludicrous in science.

However, despite the lack of scientific element, the film
undoubtedly makes Alan
Turing an iconic name for generations to
remember.